BEING sent to jail is meant to be a punishment. Criminals get banged up because they have broken the law and have to pay for what they have done.

Their time behind bars should involve rehabilitation and preparation for returning to the outside world.

But law-abiding taxpayers want to know the prisons they pay for are not treated like holiday camps.

For years, the Daily Record has been raising concerns about illegal behaviour being allowed in the prison system.

This has included cases of lags running their drug empire from behind bars and stories of drug abuse and other criminality.

Today, we publish figures that starkly illustrate our jails are awash with drugs.

Almost 2000 finds of illegal and potentially deadly substances were made last year – an average of about five a day.

This is just the drugs the authorities find and is likely to be the tip of the iceberg.

The revelations are particularly worrying as they come 24 hours after racist killer Imran “Baldy” Shahid rang this newspaper from a mobile phone sneaked into his cell and vowed to attack his enemies.

That highlighted two further major worries about the prison system.

First, it appears illicit mobile phones are in just as wide circulation as drugs.

Second, Shahid bragged about having “bulked up” while behind bars. Some cons appear to be treating prison as a season ticket to the gym. They are able to buy as much extra food as they want from the canteen to power their workouts.

Given the amount of drugs being found, it seems inevitable many are also taking steroids. This is unacceptable.

Yet prisons remain very good at stopping inmates from getting out. How can it be they’re so bad at keeping drugs, phones and other contraband from being brought in?

The Scottish Government and prison bosses need to get a grip on the situation quickly.

Tram shambles

It says something about what a disaster the Edinburgh tram project has become when transport bosses toast a journey of a couple of miles.

The beaming grins on the faces of council transport boss Lesley Hinds and SNP minister Keith Brown yesterday were probably more of relief than of pride.

Because there is absolutely nothing to be proud of in this sorry saga.

Political infighting, contract disputes and blown budgets have made it a shambles from start to finish – a shambles that will eventually cost taxpayers almost £800million.

A project once touted as transforming a city has instead embarrassed a nation.

Bright future

Yesterday in this column we were lauding little Evie Cloy, Britain’s youngest town crier.

Now it’s take a bow time for 12-year-old Agnijo Banjeree from Dundee.

He has scored an incredible 162 in a Mensa IQ test, which puts him in the top one per cent of the population.